Improvement in gas-generators



conn nurtnacr `New Yoann.

Letters Patent No. 111,174, dated January 24, 1871. i

IMPROVEMENT IN4 GAS-GEN'ERATORS'Q',

The Schedule;,referredv toin theseLett-.ers `Patent and pari: of thesame. .t

To whom. it may. concern; e

Be it knownthat I, J oHN BUTLER, of the city, county, and State ofNewYork, haveV invented new and useful Improvements in Gas-Generators;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full Aand exactdescription thereof, reference being had tothe accom.- panying drawingforming a part of this specification, and to the letters of referencemarked-thereon.

My inventionhas for its object to partially convert any of thehydrocarbons into gas-in one retoraand perfect the process in another,so as to perfectly utilize all the material, by which means no loss issustained.

The nature of my invention relates to making gas in a novel and peculiarmanner, by the employment of two retort-s, one being placed above theother. The

`hydrocarbons or materials from which the gas is to xbe made arevintroduced into'the upper retort where they are made, and partially madeor formed intogas, in which made and half-made statethey descend througha pipe connecting tlletwo retorts into the lower retort, impinging intheir descent on the sides ofthishot pipe, and passing to the bottom ofthe l lower retort, where they are confined between the bottom of theretort and a disk or ange provided for the purpose that extends from thebottom or lower end ofthe pipe above mentioned until they are allconverted into fixed gas, which thenpasses on through i theeduction-pipe into .the rec'cier.` It also consists in making thefurnace with an outerand inner shell,

one placed within the other, so as to Aform an annular space between thetwo shells, which is lled with any non-conducting substance so as toretain the heat within the furnace, and so that it will not radiate fromthe furnace and be lost, thereby eliecting great econ- @my in the use offuel, and, at the same time, secur ing a'higher heat on the retort. Italso consists in providing an inner and outer door iii combination withthe furnace.

To enable others 'skilled in the art to make and use my invention, Iwill proceed more particularlyto describe its construction andoperation.

Figure l is a longitudinalsectional elevation cf my -retorts andfurnace.

Figure 2 -is an side elevation of the retortand furnace, with the uterand inner doors attached to the latter.

Letters of like name and kind indicate like parts in'l each of thefigures.

A represents the outer-'and B the inner shell of my improved furnace forgenerating gas, both of which are made of suitable metal, the shell 'Bbeing made much smaller in diameter than the shell A, so much so as toform or leave an annular space of say four or tive inches between thetwo shells A and B.

The annular lspace thus formed I fill with ground Y plaster mired withwater toa semi-plastic. state, so

that the said space may be perfectly filled, as seenat .0, iig. 1.

It may be observedV that I do not confine myself entirely to plaster asa non-conducting substance, but use any ofthe sui-table or propernon-conducting substances.

D and D' are the doors of the furnace, D being` hinged to the outershell A and D' to the inria' shell B, thus making the entrance to thefurnace completely tight, so as tp 'prevent any cold air from enteringthe furnace to diminish the heat of the retort.l

E is the damperdoor, located immediately under 'the doors" D Df, for thepurpose' of regulating the draught into the furnace.

F is` the grating for theffurnaca'upen which the fuel is placed. g

G is the lower or vfinishing retort, located within the furnace.- rlhetop of,this said retort is closely fitted to the top of tlxelu/rnace bymeans of groorjed joints, as seen ata,lg. ,which may be made airtight by4'means of fusible metal. i

Immediately over this retort G is the supplementary retortvH, into whichthe hydrocarbons or'V other materials to be formed into gas areintroduced' by means of the pipe or siphon L. .The two'retorts G and Hare connected by a pipe, I, at the lower end of which is a concave diskor, flange, J, extend-ing to within a short distance of the sides andbdttom o f`the retort G.

The hydrocarbons or other materials, having been wholly and partiallymade or formed into gas in the retort H, descend, inthe form of gas andheavy oils and half-made gas, through the pipe I, into the lower orfinishing retortV G, impinging in their descent on 'the hot sides of thepipe I, and being conducted by the same'to the hottest part of theretort G, which is kept at ahigh decomposing heat, Where they areconfined,d by means of the disk or flange J, until'converted 'into'fixed gas,'in which foim they ascend to the eductiompipe K, and passthrough the'same into a receiver. l

The lower part of the pipe or siphon L, which passes into the retort IIand is exposed ,to the heat from the-furnace, is encased in an outershell filled with non-conducting materials, for the purpose of keepingthe said pipe cool, to 'prevent vaporizing and back-pressure of thevolatile hydrocarbon as it passes through'the same into the retort H, v

The advantages of my invention are, first, that ra; diation of heatfromv the furnace is prevented by means `of the non-conducting'materialfilled in between the shells of the furnace, while, at the same timealargesaving of fuel is effected and a very high ,degree'oi heat isattained in the retort; also, that by means of the double doors to thefurnace, cold airis pre vented from entering so as to strike on theretort and cool it; and that by the employment of two retorts all thematerial employed for making gas is utilized, and none of the gas islost by being carried off with or in the form ot' volatile oils.

Having thus described my invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is

1. The combination of the retort G with the retort H, locatedsubstantially as shown and described, and for the purposes set forth.

2. The furnace A, with walls constructed of nonheat-conductixng,rmaterials, and provided with double doors D D', combined and arrangedwith the retort G suspended from the roof of said furnace and the retortH above the said roof, ass/et forth.

3. vThe furnace, composed of Ytwo shells, the annular space C betweenthe same being lled with nonconducting material, and provided withdouble doors D D', the latter to prevent cold air from entering thefurnace and the former to retain the heat within the furnace,substantially as and 'for the purposes set forth.

4. The pipe L, encased in non-conducting material, to convey any of thevolatile hydrocarbons to a gasretort and prevent the vaporizing of suchvolatile hydrocarbons in their passage to the retort, and so constructedas to prevent any backfpressure and to insure their entrance into theretort in a liquid form. substantially-as shown and described.

JOHN BUTLER.

Witnesses WILLAD L. WARD, Guss. O. WESTERN.

